The first about 40% of the book was decent. Not great, not a very original or well-written story but decent enough. And then it just goes downhill.
Now, the first 40% of the book is a slow start. Chance has to fly to Italy to get his grandfather's friend, he meets several people, eventually his grandfather dies, there's a funeral... There's no love interest going on anywhere in the story there. This part is fairly boring but I liked the pace and the love Chance had for his grandfather was real. I also liked that this part felt mostly realistic. Sure, there were some issues but nothing really standing out.
And then all of a sudden, things are happening at lightning speed. Chase gets attacked, prince Giovanni sends a bodyguard, things go bad so they fly to Italy, Chase finds out vampires are real, not even a day later he gets adopted by the prince and his consort and a couple days later the prince and consort go away (without even saying goodbye I might add) and bada bing bada boom, Chase is now leader of the coven.
What exactly this entails you never really see. What are his duties, where are all the people in his coven, where does he get money... It's never explained. I think the writer just wanted to make sure Chance has a title that was more important than that of his father.
In between, literally out of freaking NOWHERE, Chance and Yuri have sex. Really, they go from Chance thinking Yuri doesn't like him and Yuri being away every time, to having sex. And trust me when I say, there was no sexual tension between them at all whatsoever. It was just, Yuri came back, was in Chance's room and BAM, sex.
Okay, so, it's instalove? Right? Vampires come with fated mates so of course they instantly like each other. Yes, only, the whole fated mates thing is never really explained that well and the relationship between Yuri and Chance was boring, disappointing and not really a relationship at all. There's no sexual tension, no alpha need to protect, no secret glances, vulnerability, nervousness... Nothing is happening between them. Even after the night where they have sex and Yuri claims Chance, it doesn't change much at all.
The love is still non-existent and the moments where you can see them enjoying each other's company are well, never. I was hoping for some tenderness, moments where they are together and talk, maybe do something fun, get to know each other, learn, love... Doesn't really happen.
There's not much sex either, but the sex scenes are sort of okay. Nothing special and especially that first scene comes very sudden so you as reader are not in the mood for sex at all, but I've read worse at least.
And then, the story. From the 40% on the story just gets ridiculous. Chance's father is an ass but he goes from being fairly happy and ignoring his son to not stopping at anything. I was confused why all of a sudden he turned violent and was so much worse. There is no explanation given. The writer needed a bad guy and despite this bad guy being in Chance's life for 25 years and never showing this behavior, now it's normal apparently and no one thinks it weird.
Also, side note, I was very disappointed we never got to see what Giovanni's punishment was for Chance's father. Even almost at the end of the book, the guy is still running around freely, messing up everyone's lives. Despite Giovanni promising he'd take care of it. Not sure how.
What also annoyed me to no end was the need to top up everything. First, Chance is some kind of lord. He doesn't have the official title (his grandfather left that to his father) but he has an estate and apparently is someone important.
But that's not enough, oh no, now he needs to be a prince. He needs to be coven-leader and royalty. Nevermind that neither of those things come with the actual baggage and back-up claims to make it feel real.
Is that at least enough then? No no, still not. Because apparently later he needs to be king as well.
It makes no sense, I didn't even particularly like the character. Chance isn't a bad guy but there's not much personality in him. But for some reason, everyone liked him and were bending over backwards to make him happy.
It got annoying fast and most of the story I was just rolling my eyes and wondering if it really would be such a bad thing if I DNF'ed. So yeah, when you're reading this book and thinking about doing that, just go for it. Trust me, things will not get any better.